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Nature's Medicine - Coconut Oil

I'm always fascinated with the way various fruits seem to resemble the physical characteristics of those parts of the body that they are supposed to be good for. For example, if you slice a carrot into disks, each disk resembles the iris and pupil of an eye, and carrots are good for eyesight. The inside of a walnut looks like the human brain and walnuts are known as 'brainfood'. For more on this subject, also know as 'the doctrine of signatures' see this link.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

However, it's the coconut which I find most interesting. The coconut resembles, unsurprisingly, the female breast. There is a natural soft spot on one end of the nut where you can easily make a hole to drink the delicious coconut water. The coconut's products are not only good for the human breast - coconut milk contains kinetin riboside which inhibits certain types of cancers including breast cancer - but the coconut also offers what the human breast provides.

Coconut water (not to be confused with coconut milk which is made from the flesh of the coconut) is a liquid that is so pure it has been used as a substitute for blood plasma. This water and the oil contained in the flesh of the nut, contain lauric acid, a fatty acid which is also found in breast milk and is known to be antibacterial, antiviral, antimicrobial, antiprotozoal and anti-fungal. It works by disrupting the lipid membranes of fungus, viruses and bacteria thereby killing them.

Some of the viruses that can be destroyed by eating coconut are HIV, Measles, Herpes simplex, Herpes viridae, Sarcoma, Epstein-Barr, Influenza, Leukemia, Pneumonovirus and Hepatitis C. Bacteria that lauric acid can destroy include Listeria monocytogenes, Helicobacter pylori, Hemophilus influenzae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae. Lauric acid is also a top Candida killer, the fungus that resides in our bodies and causes a myriad of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and lupus, as well as cancer. Of course one should also stop eating sugar to assist with this.http://jenniesjournals.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/death-by-sugar-why-you-should-avoid.html

Coconut milk, which is made from pressing the liquid from coconut meat, is high in saturated fat, some protein and carbohydrate. It's also high in iron, magnesium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, selenium, zinc, folate and vitamin C. Other elements in coconut milk are vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, vitamin B6, niacin, choline, pantothenic acid and calcium.

The fat in coconut milk has caused mainstream medicine and the press to malign it in the past as it is mainly saturated fat, but recent research shows that these fatty acids are actually good for your health. Lauric Acid, Myristic Acid, Caprylic Acid, Capric Acid and Caproic Acid are the saturated fats present in coconut oil. They are also all medium-chain fatty acids, MCFA's. These fatty acid chains are smaller than saturated fat Long Chain Fatty Acids which are responsible for weight problems and high cholesterol. MCFAs permeate cell membranes easily and do not need special enzymes to enable the body to use them. They are easily digested and sent directly to the liver where they are converted to energy, not stored as fat. They also stimulate the metabolism, helping with weight loss.

Coconut has to be one of the most effective wonder-foods available and coconut oil is now becoming more readily available. Use only cold pressed organic virgin coconut oil and consume up to about 3 tablespoons daily. Coconut oil is perfect for cooking as its smoke point is 177 degrees C, so it is very heat stable, also making it resistant to becoming rancid. Go back to nature and thrive.